PHILADELPHIA-Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP has signed a lease for 95,874 sf at 10 Penn Center, the 27-story, 667,825-sf office building at 1801 Market St. The space will be used for an expanded data center by the locally based law firm that is headquartered at Six Penn Center, which is a block away at 1701 Market.
This joins two other recently signed leases by the accounting firm of Asher & Co. for 25,824 sf, and Devine & Powers, an public relations firm, for 4,250 sf. Locally based Greenville Partners LLC, in joint venture with New York City-based Sterling American Property Inc., acquired the building for $75 million in October 2006. At the time, as GlobeSt.com reported, the property was 48% vacant, having suffered Sunoco Corp.'s exit of 12 top floors when it moved its headquarters to Mellon Center here the previous fall.
"We have leases out for signature for another 28,000 sf," says Dan Busch of Greenville, "which will take occupancy to 72%. The building has great bones, and we've been lucky," he says. "We've jumped rates by more than $2 per sf since we acquired the property." Morgan Busch of Greenville tells GlobeSt.com the asking rent rates are $25 per sf full service for floors two through 21, $25.50 per sf for floors 22 through 24, and $26 per sf for the two top floors.
The partnership has and continues to improve the "bones" with approximately $2.5 million in upgrades to the base building, including the lobby and common areas. "It needed some tweaking," Dan Busch says, and the company is now in the process of upgrading the plaza and entryways. The building was designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill and completed in 1980. Busch notes that it won the Energy Star award 22 years after it was built and says, "we're now in the process of applying for LEEDs certification."
The local office of Grubb & Ellis is the exclusive leasing agent for the building, and Wayne Fisher, SVP, and Jack Soloff head the team and negotiated on the owner's behalf. Whitney Hunter of the local office of Jones Lang LaSalle represented MLB in the lease transaction. Jeff Seligsohn of Seligsohn, Soens Hess/TCN Worldwide, also based here, represented Asher & Co.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
